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Facebook Disclosure for 87 Class Action Plaintiffs? Federal Court Denies Discovery Request
Social media accounts, typically Facebook, are currently a hot-button issue for plaintiff ESI production in civil litigation. Most courts require a threshold showing that the public account has relevant information that would lead to discoverable evidence before requiring a plaintiff to produce private portions of the account. In an order
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eDiscovery Question: Is Negligent Destruction of “Irrelevant” Evidence Spoliation?
Our last blog reviewed the facts in the case Cottle-Banks v. Cox Communications, 2013 WL 2244333 (S.D.Cal 2013) regarding the issue of automatic destruction of electronic data from audio tapes. Plaintiffs sought spoliation sanctions for recordings not saved after the case was filed on September 13, 2010, as defendant only
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Plaintiffs Sought Spoliation Sanction for Deleted Audio Recordings: Warranted or Not?
In the case Cottle-Banks v. Cox Communications, 2013 WL 2244333 (S.D.Cal 2013), a court considered an electronic discovery issue of whether spoliation sanctions were warranted against the defendant for the automatic destruction of audio recordings saved as electronic data. At issue in the underlying case, filed on September 13, 2010,
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SCOTUS Delivers Setbacks to Class Actions
Our blog not only follows the latest in plaintiff eDiscovery news and case law, but also cases that affect trial attorneys who fight for consumers in class action lawsuits. Last week, the Supreme Court issued set backs to would-be class members in both a 5-4 decision in Comcast Corp. v.
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Apple’s eDiscovery Failure in Plaintiff Class Action Over Apps
In an ongoing litigation over users’ privacy for iPhone and iPad apps, entitled In Re iPhone Application Litigation in the Northern District of California, plaintiffs allege that the private, personal information has been sold to third parties without the plaintiffs’ knowledge or consent. Plaintiff eDiscovery requests were served on Apple in preparation for
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Discovery of Foreign Documents Stayed in Travel Website MDL
Plaintiffs who filed two class action lawsuits have now been combined as a multidistrict litigation, alleging certain online travel sites have colluded with major hotels to engage in price-fixing in violation of federal anti-trust laws. The MDL is named In re: Online Travel Company Hotel Booking Antitrust Litigation, Case Number
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Supreme Court Rules for Plaintiffs in Class Action Securities Fraud
On February 27, our nation’s highest court released its decision in Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, 568 U.S. ___ (2013) with the Court’s majority deciding in favor of certifying the class in a securities-fraud case filed by named plaintiff Connecticut Retirement. The question before court concerned the requirement in Rule 23(b)(3)
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Gender Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit to Proceed, Despite Dukes
Many plaintiff trial attorneys were disappointed with the outcome in the Supreme Court decision Wal-Mart v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011). In Dukes, class certification of 1.6 million women was denied, as the court held the plaintiffs lacked the requisite requirement of commonality. The main problem was that the
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Plaintiff Trial Attorneys Cite Email Threads as Key Evidence in Antitrust Litigation
One of the ongoing themes in our blogs is how email threads are not only relevant in civil litigation, but they can also be critical evidence to a case. This is particularly true for plaintiff electronic discovery requests against large corporations, as internal emails often reflect candor and truth not
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Ottawa Facing Class Action Lawsuit After Losing Electronic Files
The Ottawa government is facing a class action lawsuit after a portable hard drive containing electronic data regarding 500,000 student loan borrowers was lost. Contained in the hard drive is sensitive information about the borrowers who took out student loans from 2000-2006, including names, social insurance numbers, birthdates, loan information